News

The following exerpts are taken from the Blue Horizons newsletter, which is published quarterly and sent out by email in plain text and HTML format.

20 August 2008: Blue Horizons voted Best Travel Agency in the Philippines

We are proud to announce that Blue Horizons / FCm Philippines has just been voted "Best Travel Agency in the Philippines, 2008" by readers of TTG Asia, TTG China, and TTG Mice. The prestigious travel industry award is bestowed each year upon "excellent organisations of the travel trade within the Asia Pacific region that have shown strong commitment towards service excellence". Members of senior management thanked the whole Blue Horizons team for their dedication and hard work over the previous months.

19 July 2008: Blue Horizons launches the first of ten new tours

Blue Horizons is pleased to announce the launching of the first of ten new tour products. The first product to be revealed is the Blue Horizons "Luxury Kayaking Safari" - luxury kayaking tours of the El Nido and Bacuit Bay area, Palawan. The kayaking safaris are set in one of the most beautiful parts of Asia, where sheer karst rock formations drop down into the deep blue surrounding waters. Stunning white beaches and coves compete with mangroves, jungle and spectacular reefs and corals for attention.

The best way to discover these unexplored islands is in small group kayaking tours where guests spend their days kayaking, snorkelling, photographing and learning more about the environment. This is a fantastic opportunity to visit the area and interact with the outstanding bio-diversity including rare and unusual marine life, flora and flora and of course the local geology.

This Luxury Kayaking Safari tour has been developed in conjunction with Marine Biologist and Professional Guide Mr Lee Goldman. Lee has a Masters Degree in Marine Biology and unrivalled experience in providing exclusive water based tours of tropical regions.

Contact us for more information about this tour product >>

25 June 2008: Blue Horizons hosts Russian travel agents’ Fam Trip

Blue Horizons is honoured to host a group of elite Russian travel agents as they inspect many of the country’s top tourist destinations, including: Manila, Cebu, Davao and Boracay. Blue Horizons was one of the first companies in the Philippines to identify Russia as a key up-and-coming inbound market for the country, and the company has worked hard to develop relationships in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Siberia and Vladivostok. Russian agents have expressed particular interest in luxury holidays and scuba diving packages for the Philippines.

01 May 2008: Blue Horizons conducts annual review of Boracay Resorts

For the first week of May, the senior management team of Blue Horizons conducted thorough site inspections of all of the major hotels and resorts on Boracay Island. The site inspections are carried out on a regular basis in order to ensure that the company is up-to-date with all on-going construction, developments, changes in staff, and so on. The company also reviews F&B outlets, health and safety practices, guest facilities, and room quality.

Apr 2008: Blue Horizons given Top Producer awards by hotels & resorts for 2007

Over the past few weeks, hotels and resorts in the Philippines have been giving Top Producer awards for room sales in 2007. Blue Horizons has done particularly well this year, thanks in part to the strategy of diversifying our market-mix whilst remaining committed to our core business: European brochure agents.

Alexander Stutely of Blue Horizons receiving a "Top Producer 2007" award from Mr. Henry Chusuey and Ms. Isabel Garcia of Boracay Regency Beach Resort.

12 Mar 2008: ITB in Berlin a big success for Blue Horizons and the Philippines

Earlier this month, Mr. Alex Stutely and Mr. Arnie Bayag attended the ITB in Berlin. The ITB is one of the largest travel industry trade shows in the world; it provides an excellent opportunity for meeting existing clients, as well as looking for new ones.

During the ITB, DOT Frankfurt launched their new marketing material – including new German-language brochures (designed by Hettich Medien using photographs taken by Tobias Hauser) and a stunning audio-visual presentation. The Philippines Department of Tourism in Frankfurt is led by Ms. Venus Tan, who appears in the photo (right) with Mr. Arnie Bayag of Blue Horizons.

31 Jan 2008: Positive feedback from ATF in Bangkok

Mr. Alex Stutely and Mr. Arnie Bayag have just returned from the ATF in Bangkok. Feedback from the event was mainly very positive: the meetings with agents were good, and the hospitality was excellent. There were only some small problems with the organization of the transportation.

The Philippines delegation included: Blue Horizons, Club Paradise, El Nido Resorts, Philippine Airlines, Badian Island Resort, Maribago Bluewater, Eskaya, Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Linden Suites, Dos Palmas, Intercontinental Hotel Manila, Microtel Inns and Suites, Southeast Asian Airlines, Annset Holidays and the Waterfront Hotel Group.

07 Nov 2007: Blue Horizons to attend the World Travel Market

Mr. Alex Stutely and Mr. Jem Kemp will be representing Blue Horizons Travel & Tours at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London from the 12th to 15th November 2007. Blue Horizons is a regular participant, and holds a table at the Philippines stand (AS 20000). Any travel industry professionals who would like to set a meeting with Blue Horizons are encouraged to contact us before Saturday 10th November.

05 Nov 2007: FCm Travel Solutions partners meeting held in Sydney

Mr. Jem Kemp and Mr. Henry Columna are attending the FCm Travel Solutions partners meeting in Sydney, Australia. The two-day event will include meetings, presentations and open forums.

10 Sep 2007: Phitex a big success for Blue Horizons and the Philippines

The Philippine Travel Exchange (Phitex), which was held in Cebu this month, is widely considered to have been a huge success. Blue Horizons was represented by Arnie Bayag and Alex Stutely, and they were able to conduct meetings with over 80 foreign agents. Mr. Bayag and Mr. Stutely also escorted a group of German travel agents to the beautiful province of Bohol for site inspections and a half-day countryside tour.

31st Aug 2007: Blue Horizons attends Philippine Micronesia Alliance conference

Jem Kemp and Alex Stutely represented Blue Horizons at the annual Philippine Micronesia Alliance conference. This is a description of the meeting, taken from the Alliance website:

The annual Philippine-Micronesia Alliance meeting took place on the 31st of August at the German Club in Makati, Manila, everybody attended the meeting including our partners from Truk Lagoon, Chuuk and Palau Micronesia. Bill Stinnett from Chuuk arrived the same day via China, Sam Scott and Dermot Keane from Sam's Tours, Palau arrived two days prior the meeting, enough time for some shopping in Manila, Rene Buob from Calypso/Pinjalo Dive Resort Boracay, Juergen Warnke from Club Paradise and Dirk Fahrenbach from Dugong Dive Center who just got back in time from his China visit see the previous blog on the China Dive Expo, Jem Kemp and Alex Stutely from Blue Horizons (our Travel specialist) and Allan Nash from Asia Divers and El Galleon just made it in time, he just arrived back from Thailand.

Our Airline partner Asian Spirit was represented by Anna Lorraine Tan, of course our charming Carmela Laurin from Club Paradise was present as always, in other words everybody was there, we had a full house. After a marathon meeting of 4 hours we came up with some very exciting things for 2008, which will be announced as soon they have been finalized, the very best thing you can do is, subscribe to our blog or visit our website for all the latest News and packages. I like to thank all the Alliance partners for their positive ideas and their attendance including my [Gunther Deichmann's] staff Arnold and Rhandy.

24 Aug 2007: FCm Travel Solutions training event in Singapore, new appointment

Henry Columna and Alex Stutely attended a full-day training program hosted by FCm Travel Solutions Singapore. The training was conducted by Robert Dell, Felicity Burke and Chriss Macaranas, and covered: Regional Sales Strategy, Account Management, Sevice Level Agreements, and Global Reporting. Alex Stutely also used the opportunity to announce that Jem Kemp is becoming involved in the Corporate Sales & Marketing area of Blue Horizons and will now be responsible for all matters related to FCm Travel Solutions. Jem will also continue as Project Manager for Scuba Dive Philippines and Golfing Philippines.

01 March 2007: Blue Horizons management team attend the ITB in Berlin

The Managing Director of Blue Horizons (Mr. Arnie Bayag) and the Chairman (Mr. Patrick Blum) have attended the ITB in Berlin again this year. The ITB is a regular feature for Blue Horizons, and indicates the importance that the company places on the European Market.

10 Feb 2007: Blue Horizons & DOT make progress into the Indian Outbound Market

Blue Horizons has accompanied the Department of Tourism on a ground-breaking trip to India. The trip, which took place this month, is the first time that the Department of Tourism has attended the Outbound Travel Mart (OTM) in India. Alex Stutely from Blue Horizons made a presentation in Mumbai to approximately 100 travel agents from companies such as TUI, Thomas Cook, and TCI, and noted that the feedback was very positive. One agent stated "The timing is perfect, as many Indian travellers are tired of going to Malaysia and Singapore, and we have been searching for the next big destination in the region. We look forward to selling the Philippines".

13 Jan 2007: Excellent sales results for the inbound team, December 2006

Various sections of the Blue Horizons Inbound Department have generated record sales in December, and the outlook for 2007 is just as promising. The Inbound Department is looked after by Ms. Gigi Jamiro, Inbound Operations Manager.

07 Jan 2007: Blue Horizons welcomes new Project Manager: Scuba Diving and Golf

We are very pleased to welcome Mr. Jem Kemp as our Project Manager for Scuba Dive Philippines (www.ScubaDivePhilippines.com) and Golfing Philippines (www.GolfingPhilippines.com).

26 Jul 2006: The Philippine-Micronesia Alliance website is launched

Blue Horizons Travel & Tours is proud to announce the launch of the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance website. The Alliance aims to promote scuba diving in the Philippines in Micronesia.

The Philippine-Micronesia Alliance consists of the region's premier dive operators, hand-picked by the Alliance to guarantee scuba divers the finest in quality holidays and the highest levels of diver safety, customer service standards and professional business practices in the industry.

The Philippine-Micronesia Alliance website can be viewed at the following URL:

http://www.alliancediving.com

16 Jun 2006: Blue Horizons welcomes The Walt Disney Company as a corporate client

On Friday 16th June 2006, Blue Horizons Travel & Tours hosted a meeting with The Walt Disney Company's visiting Director of International Corporate Travel, Mr. Vic Van Den Brandeler. The meeting, which took place at the EDSA Shangri-La in Ortigas, was also attended by Mr. Vergel Macalino of Walt Disney Philippines, Mr. James Kavanagh of FCm Travel Solutions Australia, and Messers Alex Stutely and Patrick Blum of Blue Horizons. During the meeting The Walt Disney Company was welcomed as a client of FCm Travel Solutions in the Philippines, and specific details of Disney's regional travel requirements were discussed. We look forward to working closely with Disney over the coming months.

31 May 2006: The Month in Review

This month has seen a number of developments at Blue Horizons. We have taken on new staff, restructured our management team, and rewarded our hard-working employees with a special bonus in recognition of last year’s good results. We have also signed a new contract with the The Walt Disney company to handle their travel requirments in the Philippines and (in partnership with FCm Travel Solutions) the rest of Asia Pacific. Our Dot Com department has started operating extended office hours, from 7:00am to 10:00pm on weekdays, and is now operating 7 days a week. Representatives of our Cebu office attended the "Suroy Suroy Sugbu" travel event in Cebu, and the M/V Lagoon Explorer sailed down to Australia. We expect the coming month to be equally busy, with a number of new and exciting projects on the horizon.

In connection with these developments, we would like to welcome Ms. Lynie Pispisano and Ms. Angelie Peralta to the company. We would also like to congratulate Alex Stutely on his promotion as Online Business Development Manager.

Click here to view the complete May newsletter >>

30 Apr 2006: The Month in Review

This month we have been implementing changes to some of our internal processes, in order to achieve maximium operational efficiency. This was led by Mr. Frank Attwood, and focused on updating our accounting, IT and Human Resource systems. Improvements include a new payroll system, a significant reduction in accounts receivable, a new system for issuance of international and domestic tickets, and more.

In connection with these changes, we would like to welcome Mr Edwin Canales to the company. We would also like to welcome Ms. Weng De Leon, and Mr. Carl Batac.

Click here to view the complete April newsletter >>

Feb & Mar 2006: Two Months in Review

The past month has been very busy, as usual. We have continued to see strong demand for hotel rooms throughout the Philippines – especially Manila. Our Managing Director and our Chairman travelled to Berlin for the ITB (one of the world’s largest travel events), and our China Market team had some very productive meetings in Shanghai and Beijing. We also attended the Visayas Travel Expo in Cebu, which was organized by our very own Cebu Branch Manager Ms. Cecile Sa-a (who is also the President of the Cebu Travel & Tours Association). Meanwhile, the M/V Lagoon Explorer has been peacefully sailing the turquoise waters of northern Palawan under the guidance of our much-loved crew. We look forward to another busy, productive month ahead.

Click here to view the complete February newsletter >>

Jan 2006: The Month in Review

The past month has been particularly hectic due to the Christmas and New Year’s holidays (the traditional "peak" season in the Philippines). In fact, we had our best month ever. Whilst our Inbound team have been working at full pace to handle inquiries from agents and clients around the world, our Market Managers have been formulating their strategies for the coming year. At the same time, we have been developing our new corporate website, which reflects our company’s elevated position in the local market and our new partnership with FCm Travel Solutions. The new Blue Horizons corporate website was officially launched this week, and can be viewed at the following URL:

http://www.bluehorizons.travel

Click here to view the complete January newsletter >>

31 Dec 2005: The Month in Review

It has been another busy month for Blue Horizons, made memorable by the amount of traveling that was involved. Assorted members of the team were sent to the far corners of the earth for trade shows or sales calls, and remarkably all of them returned in one piece. China, Thailand, Switzerland, England, and of course many parts of the Philippines were on the agenda. Meanwhile, the Lagoon Explorer has been sailing the crystal clear waters of the Calamian Islands in Palawan and our new Boracay office has started operating for the first time, bringing the total compliment of offices to ten. We also have a new Chinese-speaking person on our team (Ms. Marlyn Sim), who will be responsible for overseeing the development of our China Market.

Click here to view the complete December newsletter >>

30 Nov 2005:
The Month in Review

It has been a busy month for Blue Horizons. In the past four weeks we have: opened a new office in Boracay, attended the FCm Travel Solutions Network meeting in India, started the new sailing season of the M/V Lagoon Explorer, launched the Golfing Philippines website, sponsored the British Chamber of Commerce’s Oktoberfest, expanded the team at our Manila office, and continued to build on our success during the first three quarters of the year. The next month promises to be just as busy, and we look forward to another four weeks of challenges and progress.

Click here to view the complete November newsletter >>